Our Ordeal With BPPV

Usually I have a pithy writing comment to make about the process, but lately we’ve been dealing with something as a family that is quite alarming and difficult to manage. Let me just say that for any parents who have disabled children, I am only beginning to understand your plight. My oldest daughter Kaylee is

Comedy Clip: My Son’s New Video

My son Conner is a little bit of a film nut, and we have recently set him up with a YouTube channel and given him the freedom to shoot his own bizarre little films.  His current effort is a little film called “Last Year’s Pizza”, something he directed and gathered props for, and then directed

A Lesson About Forgiveness

I went to church camp with my two oldest kids last week which is the reason I didn’t post on the blog at all.  Today I am in Louisville, Kentucky at the AP Reader Conference where I’m reading AP essay after AP essay, grading each one and trying not to lose my vision (It’s really

Texas Frightmare Weekend

Saturday I drove to Dallas, Texas to attend the annual Texas Frightmare Weekend at the Hyatt hotel at the DFW airport.  The trip was a reward for two of my children who are rabid Walking Dead fans, who were there not to see Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), but to get Scott Wilson’s (Hershel Green’s) autograph. We arrived

Don’t Feed the Negative Body Image

I am currently teaching an adjunct course at St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  It is a literature course, and last week one of the readings was a poem by Marge Piercy entitled “Barbie Doll”.  Here is the poem, and the discussion about it comes after: Barbie Doll This girlchild was born as usual and presented

A Death In The Family

Today is an extremely sad day for me.  I just can’t get focused on anything else.  Chewy, our Labrador/Great Pyrenees, had to be put to sleep after being in our family for over 11 years. It started rather innocently.  He had developed a limp over the past few weeks that seemed to get worse, and

Christmas: Blessings Counted

Today is Christmas, and it is probably one of my favorite holidays, however I am increasingly fed up with the fact that it is the only holiday save Easter that is being eradicated by the corporate machine, remolded into some meaningless day where you get gifts for people who are probably going to take them

Thanksgiving Day Celebration

Today is the day when people in the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving. When we get together today, I’m sure my mother is going to (as she always does) tell all of us that before we eat we must each share something we are thankful for.  This year, my mother’s house is not the center of the

‘Merican Food and My Current Health Ordeal

A week ago I went to the doctor for a checkup, not necessarily because I wanted to, but because my insurance company was going to pay for it and I was going to get $200 out of the deal.     Well, the results are in, and they aren’t good.     From my blood

My Daughter’s Gift

Last night I lay in bed with laptop open, writing away at Come Apart, my newest WIP.  Due to school starting up, the self-imposed renovation of my classroom, the induction of several new alternative education students into my program and a myriad of other things I have been neglecting it. It is always difficult to pick